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If you own a laptop or desktop and, for whatever reason, it won't connect to the Internet, here are a few things you can do to pass the time until your connection is back up and running. (This article assumes that your laptop or desktop operates on Windows.)

Steps

1

Check out what games you have on your machine. Every Windows systems has a version of Minesweeper on it. Minesweeper, once you learn how to play it, is very fun and addictive. Read the instructions by digging through the options bar at the top of the window.

2

If you have a creative impulse, try playing around with a few of the templates in Microsoft Works. Or you could take the time to make cards you might need to write up later. The more time on your hands the better you can make the cards!

3

Play Solitaire. (A little tidbit: this version of Solitaire's real name is actually "Klondike".)

4

Reorganize your desktop. Your icons with frequent computer usage will being to pile up, and unless you use every single one frequently or you need them on there for easy access, you'll need to clean them up. Organizing your desktop will also force you to organize your My Documents folder and therefore is a time-consuming process if you want it done right.

5

Use Paint to draw pictures. (If you have a better-suited program, like Photoshop or Flash, use that.)

6

With a microphone, you can record yourself and various other sounds. Using the built-in Sound Recorder, you can mix various things and, with skill and patience, can even create your own songs using just yourself and things around the house.

7

Virus check your computer. This often takes a while and slows down your computer, so take this time to do this important task.

8

Set your browser's options. (If you're on the Internet, chances are you won't do this and you'll miss out on optimizing your Internet experience.)

9

Use Word Processor to write something. You don't have to be a writer - just write! You might have the author gene in you.

10

Organize your photos and picture collections. If you're like me, you have thousands of pictures that you've collected over the years, and never organized them into folders, by subject, date, etc.

11

Learn how to program in Assembly and how to use Debug (Open Command Prompt, and type "debug"). It is a very old, lame, but powerful 8088 debugger included in all versions of Windows. You can write values directly to the computer memory and hard disk, so be careful. (See Warnings)

12

Play some of your favorite computer games. If you have a copy of Madden, you can play that.

13

Pop in a CD and listen to music.

14

Get off the computer and do something else. There are a lot of better things to do that sit idly at a computer.

Tips

Print this article since you won't be able to use wikiHow without the internet.

Use this time wisely! Merely listening to music when you could be doing that AND running a virus checker is a terrible waste.

Buy some computer games like the Sims or maybe even Mario, try Skies of War .

When you are on the Internet, you should set some time aside to collect some ideas and programs to use for when your connection goes out again.

You can buy and download individual songs from iTunes or Google Play so you have some music to listen to if your internet connection don't work.

There are built in programs, especially if you are using a Mac, that can be used offline and are a lot of fun. You can use iVideo to make your own movies or Garageband to make your own music.

When you are online, you can check out the Microsoft Store or the App store and you can add some programs to your computer so you can have something to do when you are offline. Some of the programs are available for free and others you can buy.

A lot of the activities that you can do on your computer can be done without a computer. Instead of using "Paint", you can actually get out some piece of paper and watercolor paints and start painting. There are lots of fine motor skills that can be developed with painting with actual paint instead of using a computer program.

Warnings

Do not use 8088 Debugger unless you're an experienced Assembly programmer. It can wipe out important data on your disk if you use it incorrectly (be careful with "write", "go", and "trace" commands)

Don't spend too much time on your computer or the Internet if you should be doing something else that's more important - like homework or work.

Article Info

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 16 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 41,323 times.